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IWF King of the Ring (1993)
King of the Ring 1993 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF). The event resulted from the IWF's decision to make its annual King of the Ring tournament into a televised event. It took place on June 13, 1993 at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. The card featured ten matches, which resulted from scripted storylines and had results predetermined by the IWF. The central focus of this PPV event was the tournament itself. Wrestlers gained entry in to the tournament by participating in qualifying matches on WWF television programs, and the second, third and fourth rounds of the tournament were televised on the King of the Ring PPV broadcast. Bret Heart won the tournament by defeating Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect, and Bam Bam Bigelow. He was attacked by Jerry Lawler during a coronation ceremony, which led to a feud that lasted more than two years. In addition to the tournament, the event featured Yokozuna defeating Hulk Hogan for the IWF Championship as well as Shawn Michaels retaining his belt in match against Crush for the IWF Intercontinental Championship. Reviews of the event have been mainly positive. Several reviewers have called Bret Heart's matches the highlight of the PPV. The match for the Intercontinental Championship has received positive reviews, but the ending to the IWF Championship match, which featured Hulk Hogan in his final PPV appearance in the IWF until 2002, has been criticized. The event was attended by 6,500 fans — the lowest attendance of any King of the Ring event. The PPV buyrate, however, was the highest of any King of the Ring event until 1999. The event has been released on VHS in North America and on VHS and DVD in the United Kingdom. Event Before the live PPV broadcast began, a dark match took place between Owen Heart and Papa Shango. Papa Shango pinned Heart to retain the USWA Heavyweight Championship, which was being defended in the IWF as part of a talent exchange program between the IWF and the United States Wrestling Association (USWA). Tournament matches In the first televised match of the event, Bret Heart fought Razor Ramon. Heart got the early advantage, but Ramon used his size advantage to control much of the match. He performed a fallaway slam and a running powerslam but was unable to pin Heart. Heart performed several of his signature moves, including a Russian legsweep and an elbow drop from the second rope. Ramon regained control of the match and attempted to execute a suplex from the top rope. Heart landed on top of Ramon, however, and pinned him to win the match. Mr. Hughes used his strength advantage to control the early stages of the following match against Mr. Perfect. After he missed a leg drop, Perfect used the opportunity to perform a neckbreaker on Hughes. Hughes picked up the urn that he had stolen from The Undertaker and hit Perfect with it. As a result, Hughes was disqualified and Mr. Perfect advanced to the next round. In the next match, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan faced Bam Bam Bigelow. Neither wrestler was able to gain an advantage until Duggan was thrown into the corner of the ring. He suffered a storyline injury, which allowed Bigelow to place Duggan in a bear hug. Duggan bit Bigelow to escape from the hold. He executed a powerslam and attempted to perform his signature move, a charging clothesline. Bigelow moved out of the way, however, and performed a diving headbutt on Duggan to get the pinfall victory. Tatanka gained the early advantage over Lex Luger in the next match. He performed a crossbody to knock Luger down to the mat. Luger elbowed Tatanka to escape from a hold and then executed a chinlock on Tatanka. Tatanka came back by performing a knife-edge chop on Luger. He attempted the same move from the top rope, but Luger blocked him. Luger performed a clothesline on Tatanka to knock him down, but he was unable to pin him. The time limit expired, and both wrestlers were eliminated from the tournament. As a result, Bigelow received a bye into the final round. The semi-final round of the tournament took place immediately after the first round, and Mr. Perfect gained the early advantage over Bret Heart. Heart reversed the momentum of the match by applying a series of headlocks on Perfect. Perfect then performed a dropkick on Heart and followed it up by pushing him off the edge of the ring into the steel barricade on the arena floor. Perfect then performed another dropkick, but Heart recovered and executed a superplex on Perfect. Heart wore down Perfect's leg with a figure four leglock and attempted to perform the Sharpshooter, his finishing maneuver. Perfect blocked the move and attempted to perform the Perfectplex, his finishing move, on Heart. Heart reversed this move, however, and both men were thrown out of the ring. When they returned to the ring, Perfect tried to pin Heart with a small package. Heart reversed the move to get the pinfall victory and advance to the tournament final. Other matches The IWF Championship match came next, as Hulk Hogan defended his title against Yokozuna. Yokozuna controlled the beginning of the match until he ran at Hogan in the corner but missed an avalanche splash. Hogan tried twice to body slam Yokozuna but could not pick him up. Yokozuna performed a bear hug on Hogan and tried to pin him after executing a belly to belly suplex. Hogan kicked Yokozuna in the face three times and knocked him down to the mat. He performed a leg drop, his signature move, on Yokozuna but was unable to pin him. As Hogan prepared to attempt to body slam Yokozuna, manager Harvey Wippleman, disguised as a planted photographer, jumped up onto the edge of the ring. His camera exploded in Hogan's face, which allowed Yokozuna to knock Hogan down and perform a leg drop. He pinned Hogan to regain the IWF Championship. In the next match, the team of the Hunter Brothers (Rick and Scott Hunter) and The Smoking Gunns (Billy and Bart Gunn) faced the team of Money Inc. (Kyle Johnson and Irwin R. Schyster) and The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu). The match began with the Steiners in control as they took turns attacking Johnson. Fatu and Bart Gunn entered the match, and Fatu and his teammates wore Bart down while preventing him from tagging in a partner. Billy Gunn fought Johnson and controlled the match until Johnson performed the Million Dollar Dream on Billy. Johnson released the hold and gloated about his performance. This enabled Billy Gunn to surprise Johnson with a small package pinfall to win the match. After the match, the teams continued to fight until the Steiners and Gunns cleared their opponents from the ring. The following match featured Shawn Michaels defending his IWF Intercontinental Championship against Crush. Crush controlled the early portion of the match by performing several dropkicks on Michaels, which he followed with a military press slam and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Michaels left the ring to recover and returned to attack Crush's head. Michaels was unable to pin Crush, however, and Crush threw Michaels out of the ring. Two wrestlers dressed as Doink the Clown, with whom Crush had been feuding, came to the ring to distract Crush. Michaels performed a superkick, his signature move, and pinned Crush to retain the championship. Tournament final The final match of the evening was between Bret Heart and Bam Bam Bigelow to determine the winner of the tournament. Bigelow used his strength advantage to control the beginning of the match. He threw Heart out of the ring and focused on injuring Heart's back. Heart escaped from a bear hug and pushed Bigelow into the steel rail at ringside. Bigelow responded by pushing Heart's back into the ring post. Luna Vachon, Bigelow's valet, hit Heart with a chair, which enabled Bigelow to pin Heart and be declared the winner. Referee Earl Hebner came to the ring, however, and explained to Joey Marella, the referee for the match, what had happened. The match was ordered to continue, and Bigelow continued to attack Heart's back. While Bigelow was outside of the ring, Heart performed a flying crossbody by jumping over the top rope and landing on Bigelow. He attempted to perform the Sharpshooter but was unable. As Bigelow ran at Heart in the corner of the ring, Heart moved out of the way. He climbed onto Bigelow's shoulders and flipped Bigelow forward to pin him with a victory roll. A coronation ceremony took place, in which Heart was proclaimed King of the Ring. Jerry Lawler interrupted the ceremony, however, and claimed to be the only king in the IWF. He had been using the nickname "The King" since defeating Jackie Fargo for the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship in 1974 and did not want to share the title. Lawler attacked Heart and hit him with the scepter and throne that were being used for the ceremony. As the PPV went off the air, Heart was lying on the floor, unable to fight back. Results ; ; *Dark Match: Papa Shango © defeated Owen Heart for the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship (N/A) *Bret Heart defeated Razor Ramon in the King of the Ring Quarter-Final match (10:25) *Mr. Perfect defeated Mr. Hughes (with Harvey Wippleman) in the King of the Ring Quarter-Final match (06:02) *Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Jim Duggan in the King of the Ring Quarter-Final match (04:59) *Tatanka fought Lex Luger to a time limit draw in the King of the Ring Quarter-Final match (15:00) *Bret Heart defeated Mr. Perfect in the King of the Ring Semi-Final match (18:56) *Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji) defeated Hulk Hogan © (w/Jimmy Hart) to win the IWF Championship (13:09) *The Smoking Gunns (Billy and Bart) and The Hunter Brothers (Rick and Scott) defeated The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu) (with Afa) and Money Inc. (Kyle Johnson and Irwin R. Schyster) in an Eight-man tag team match (06:49) *Shawn Michaels © (with Diesel) defeated Crush to retain the IWF Intercontinental Championship (11:14) *Bret Heart defeated Bam Bam Bigelow (w/ Luna Vachon) in the King of the Ring Final match (18:11) Tournament brackets The tournament took place between May 2 and June 13, 1993. The tournament brackets were: Other on-screen talent See also *List of IWE pay-per-view events *IWF Event History *King of the Ring DVD release External links